Matt
Porch CEO Matt Ehrlichman

Home-improvement data startup Porch is partnering with Realtor.com to launch a new product, the “Porch Home & Neighborhood Report,” that promises to give prospective homebuyers new insight into the history of specific homes and neighborhoods.

The partnership with Realtor.com, announced this morning, expands the Porch business into real estate while creating a new connection between the Seattle-based company and Move Inc., the Zillow competitor that operates Realtor.com, the official site of the National Association of Realtors.

Homebuyers using the Realtor.com site will be able to request the Porch Home & Neighborhood Report for specific properties for sale. The reports will give a rundown of the home’s project history, including cost, details of the projects and information about the professionals who have previously worked on the home and in the neighborhood. Also in the report is information about how long neighbors have lived in their homes, and details about nearby properties.

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The Porch Home & Neighborhood Reports will be available to homebuyers for free via Realtor.com.

The reports, free to consumers, are a new way for Porch to leverage its unique data on 98 million home-improvement projects across the country. Porch’s site provides details on projects that have happened generally in a neighborhood, but the new home reports, delivered via email, provide information about specific homes for sale.

“To date, Porch has helped people improve their homes — find the right professional, get their projects done,” said Porch CEO Matt Ehrlichman. “Now we can be a part of helping them do the research to find the right home, and just to have the information and the ammunition, frankly, as a buyer to just be better-informed when you’re considering homes to buy.”

In an interview at the Porch offices in Seattle, Ehrlichman declined to provide specifics on the revenue model or other details of the company’s partnership with Realtor.com, which is described as the exclusive launch partner for the new product. However, Ehrlichman said, “I would expect, over time, that there will be many other partners to come in the future.”

When requested by a prospective homebuyer, the Porch report is delivered via email on behalf of a real estate agent that has a relationship with Realtor.com, creating a potential connection between that agent and the homebuyer. Porch declined to disclose any financial details associated with those referrals.

Porch offers its flagship service for free to homeowners, charging home-improvement professionals and remodelers for market insights and promotional exposure in specific geographies. The reports will help those professionals by showing homebuyers which pros have worked in a specific home in the past, Ehrlichman noted. In many cases those relationships would otherwise end when a home changes hands.

It’s the second big partnership for Porch in recent months. The company in January entered into a strategic partnership with home-improvement giant Lowe’s to put Porch into the retailer’s stores to help homeowners find contractors and remodelers.

Here’s an example of a Porch Home & Neighborhood Report. (Click for PDF)

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PreviouslyA peek inside Porch: Fast-growing Seattle startup quickly filling new HQ

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